Krack said the HTC project stemmed from an accident at the wastewater treatment plant in 2009, which resulted in the borough needing to rebuild part of it.
“And in that process, we became aware that in the rebuild that we had to take care of another one of the digesters — the digester is the holding tank that processes the raw sewage using anaerobic digestion,” Krack said.
Four years ago, Phoenix officials decided that a change in technology for that process was in order.
With “designed excess capacity,” the future HTC plant could be able to take on the waste of neighboring communities to help fund the project. The bioproducts from the facility can also be sold for profit, Krack said.
Phoenixville has tapped SoMax BioEnergy to build and renovate the current system.
“We were able to get some grant funding, about $400,000 from Chester County, another $600,000 from the commonwealth to pursue this particular project,” Krack said.
Equipment has already begun arriving. Construction is expected to begin in February under the name PXVNEO, Phoenixville New Energy Optimization.